Brevard Has Shot At $7 Million In Park Funds

May 20, 1986|By Ruth Rasche of The Sentinel Staff

MELBOURNE — Brevard still has a good chance of getting $7 million from the state to buy 10 oceanfront park sites even though the state is reconsidering how it will spend the remaining $13.6 million in its Save Our Coasts fund.

A state committee is taking another look at the list of about 40 projects in line for money from the $200 million fund.

Until the Land Selection Committee re-evaluates the projects and until Gov. Bob Graham and the Cabinet vote on the new priority list in September, all but the first few items on the list are on hold, a committee staff member said Monday.

The governor and Cabinet have asked the Legislature to approve bonding for another $25 million to fortify the depleted fund's coffers.

Brevard's plan to split with the state the $14 million cost of buying 10 oceanfront park sites in south Brevard was ranked first on the committee's original list in November.

That means that if Brevard can get options to buy the beachfront sites before the committee's new list is drawn up, the county almost certainly will get $7 million from the state to help buy the land, said county planner Teresa Kramer.

The sites include about a mile of oceanfront on 87 acres between Sebastian Inlet and Patrick Air Force Base.

''This is extremely good for Brevard because it's giving us a grace period to do all our paperwork and get appraisals,'' she said. ''The odds of us getting the money now are extremely good if we can just move quickly and negotiate with the property owners.''

Volusia County's $2.96 million proposal to buy 116 acres, with about 1,000 feet of oceanfront at Lighthouse Point, was fourth on the committee's original list.

The governor and Cabinet recently ranked Brevard and Volusia counties second only to Pinellas County in their need and demand for oceanfront recreation spots. The selection committee undoubtedly will keep that in mind when reorganizing the list, which could help Volusia's chances of getting some money, said committee staff member David Buchanan. said.

Indian River County's $2.8 million proposal to buy 19 acres with 1,400 feet of oceanfront at the Indian River North Beach Complex was ranked sixth on the committee's original list.

Graham and the Cabinet asked the committee to review the way money from the state fund was being doled out after several low-priority projects got money because paperwork on those projects had been finished before red-tape on high- priority projects could be completed.

To avoid this problem, in the future, the governor and Cabinet decided that money from the fund now will be given to projects strictly on priority, which is why the new priority list is so important, Kramer said.